Human Rights and Disability Advocacy

Introduction

Introduction The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities entered into force on 3 May 2008. It is the first human rights treaty to be adopted after the end of the Cold War; the first one to be adopted since the highly successful 1993 World Conference on Human Rights and the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action that conference yielded; the first one to be drafted and adopted at the beginning of this century; and the first human rights convention to be open for signature to regional integration organizations. The establishments of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and of national human rights institutions since the World Conference have also been instrumental developments in the disability context. The rise of transnational civil society, which includes not only nongovernmental organizations, but also, inter alia, peoples’ movements, formal and informal associations, grassroots coalitions and indigenous peoples’ organizations, as well as media and communication technologies, have significantly strengthened the national and international discourse on the issue. These developments in combination have enabled the dialogue on disability rights to take place. They enabled the transnational disability rights movement to plant roots and later on, to mushroom to unprecedented levels in an otherwise unwelcoming world. They enabled the global community to think and to rethink about what disability is and how we treat— or how we shall treat—our members of society who are prone to be more vulnerable . Moreover, they enabled the global community to reflect on what universal notions of human rights, subjectivity, and dignity mean at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The eighth UN “core” human rights treaty marks a shift that elevates persons with disabilities from being remarkably invisible within human rights discourse to being protected by a multilateral treaty that frames all 2 Introduction human rights as accessible and inclusive. Very much in line with the seminal report by Gerard Quinn and Theresia Degener, two internationally known disability rights experts and leaders for the first working session of the convention process, the Convention replaces the hitherto prevalent medical approach to disability with the social model as the basis for the rights of persons with disabilities. Rather than focusing on impairment as a personal trait that needs to be “corrected,” and possibly “eliminated,” it emphasizes the need to remove the social and environmental barriers that exclude persons with disabilities from full and effective participation in society and enjoyment of all human rights. The Convention comprehensively examines the rights of persons with disabilities, so as to ensure a human-rights-based approach to inclusion; as a historic first, it also enshrines general principles, among them the need to “respect difference” (Article 3(d)). In light of this achievement, it is timely and important to step back and reflect on the path that has brought about this paradigm shift. What were the successes? What are the shortcomings? And what caused either? As the Convention has entered into force, with 130 countries and the European Community having already ratified it and signatures from more than 25 other states, there is perhaps no better time to evaluate the drafting process of the first human rights treaty of the twenty-first century. Why a New Convention? For the international disability rights movement, the primary questions were why a new international convention was needed, and what form it would have. Indeed, previous efforts to draft such a convention on the international level have failed, and the issue of disability rights seemed to have gained only mild interest beyond the realm of disability rights activists. The lack of interest was further perpetuated by the principle response that persons with disabilities fall within the scope of existing international human rights treaties and thus are inherently entitled to similar respect, protection, and treatment. An additional treaty, it was held, would be redundant; moreover, the overtheorization of rights would reduce the value of already stipulated rights. The strategy to rectify any arguable discrimination against persons with disabilities was therefore to improve the enforcement of existing treaties through the authorized bodies (committees under the treaties, general comments, special rapporteurs, and so on). Introduction 3 Indeed, efforts have been made to further disability rights on the international level. In addition to the application of the general human rights provisions within the framework of international law, specific reference to persons with disabilities can be found in Articles 2 and 23 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and in a few conventions of the International Labour Organization that...